Publishing News

The New York Times is partnering with Kingfisher Publications, a Houghton Mifflin Co. imprint, to release a new series of nonfiction books aimed at middle-school-age readers. The books will be written by prominent Times journalists on topics they’ve covered for the paper, and will feature photography and articles from the Times’ archives.

The first book in the series, The North Pole Was Here, will be published in April. Its author, Andrew C. Revkin, was the first Times reporter to file stories from the North Pole, and has written on environmental issues for the Times for more than a decade. When the Wall Came Down, written by Serge Schmemann, will be released in May. The Times’ Bonn bureau chief from 1987 to 1991, Mr. Schmemann won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the reunification of Germany.

Four books will be published in the series each year.

In light of rapidly rising rates of obesity among young people, the Arlington, Va.-based Biotechnology Institute has devoted the fall issue of Your World: Biotechnology & You, its magazine for middle and high school students, to a discussion of obesity, its causes and health implications, and the role of biotechnology in obesity research and treatment.

The institute is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to biotechnology education. Your World is published twice a year, and can be downloaded along with a teacher’s guide at www.biotechinstitute.org.

In a related development, Eric Schlosser, the author of the best-selling book Fast Food Nation, is bringing his message on the perils of junk food to a younger audience. He and Charles Wilson have written an exposé-style book on the fast-food industry intended for middle-school-age readers. The book, Chew on This, will be published by Houghton Mifflin in May.

The Walt Disney Co., through its Disney Worldwide Publishing division, is launching a new magazine focused on helping parents foster their children’s learning. Wondertime is targeted to better-educated mothers of children from birth to age 6. It will be published quarterly in 2006, with the first issue to appear this month.